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Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Did "Political Animals" Name Its President After Eric Garcetti?

In USA Network's new Washingto-set drama "Political Animals," Adrian Pasdar plays the President of the United States, while Sigourney Weaver, whose character initially ran against him (shades of Hillary Clinton), is now his Secretary of State.

Pasdar's name on the show? "President Paul Garcetti."

Wait, "Garcetti"? As in city councilman Eric Garcetti, currently running for mayor of Los Angeles? I asked executive producer Laurence Mark if the character was indeed named after our Garcetti (or even his equally famous dad Gil) -- but Mark says it's a complete coincidence: "Oh gosh, seriously, literally it never crossed our mind," Mark told me. "But now that you say something, it should have." Mark says it's not meant to be either pro- or anti- our Garcetti. "We're not fans and we're not not fans," he says.

"Political Animals" premieres Sunday, July 15 at 10 p.m. on USA Network. Meanwhile, what's the deal with all of these Washington, D.C.-set shows suddenly showing up on television? Besides "Political Animals," there's HBO's "Veep," NBC's upcoming "1600 Penn," Showtime's "Homeland," and more. I talk about the trend in this week's TV Guide Magazine; read about it here.